About IISG

The IISG is EU funded project (December 2016 Council Conclusions on Strengthening the EU’s Internal Security’s External Dimension in the Western Balkans including via the Integrative Internal Security Governance (IISG), Council doc. no. 15413/16). Since 2017, the IISG Support Group core team which covered both technical and secretariat support to the IISG was hosted by the Geneva Centre for Security Governance (DCAF) – Ljubljana Office. This Action will support the next phase of the IISG development and operation. This phase is a crucial step in the IISG development and is framed by new Terms of Reference for the IISG process (hereinafter „IISG ToR“) approved the IISG Board at the 4^th Board Meeting on 18^th November 2019 in Skopje, following an extensive consultation (“Interim Reflection on IISG”) with all relevant interlocutors, which took place during February – November 2019 under the guidance of the European Commission[1] and following an external evaluation.

As announced during the 4^th IISG Board Meeting, the RCC has become the host of a new IISG Secretariat as of 1 April 2020. The IISG Secretariat does not have its own legal personality.

The RCC is a regionally-owned and led cooperation framework operating under the auspices of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP), addressing the issue of security since its inception in 2008 as one of its pillars of action in support to regional cooperation and Euro-Atlantic integration process of the SEE region.

The IISG aims to improve the collective efficiency of security actions and actors in the WB and as such support the European perspective of the region.

One of the main outcomes of the IISG process is to map the needs of the Western Balkans and the corresponding responses by IISG members in all three IISG Pillars:

• The WBCTi (“Western Balkans Counter-Terrorism Initiative”): actions related to counter-terrorism and preventing and countering violent extremism;
• The WBCSCi (“Western Balkans Counter Serious Crime Initiative”): actions related to fighting serious organised crime;
• The WBBSi (“Western Balkans Border Security Initiative”): actions related to border security.

The purpose of the needs mapping is to identify the legislative, institutional and operational needs of the Western Balkans to effectively prevent and respond to security threats in the three pillars of the IISG.  Identifying the needs will allow for a subsequent identification of responses and ultimately, the analysis of gaps, synergies and approaches.

The needs mapping report will be prepared by the IISG Secretariat with contributions from the IISG Support Group every two years following the process described below. 

Reflecting the aim of the IISG, the needs identified in the context of the IISG should link up with progress on the European path of the Western Balkans.  As such, the framework for the identification of needs is the EU’s Enlargement strategy (including acquis, standards and practices), regional sectoral and national strategies, and other relevant documents produced by IISG members.  Needs should reflect both a prevention perspective (gaps in effective prevention of security threats) and a response perspective (gaps in effective response to security threats) in line with the objectives of the three IISG pillars.

The IISG publishes biennially a needs report on its webpage.  To ensure more continuous information, the results of the needs and the response mapping are transposed into the IISG database, which is open to IISG members for regular updates. The Response mapping is structured corresponding to the needs and includes all programs and actions which are currently underway or to be implemented in all three pillars by IISG members.